Late Lunchtime Links: No new financial services jobs to be created in London next year. Two thousand jobs going at Citigroup's investment bank

Forget the CEBR and all other gloomy reports about the City of London employment situation, a new report suggests the City is still growing, albeit very, very, slowly indeed.

The report by Oxford Economics has been prepared for the City of London itself. Contrary to the very upbeat press release on the City of London website, which suggests 129,000 'professional services' jobs will be created in London over the next 7 years and that insurers and fund managers are compensating for the decline in banking jobs, the report itself says a mere 3,100 financial services jobs will be generated across London between now and 2020. Next year, it predicts there will be no new banking jobs created at all.

Some areas of employment are still growing in London, however. Rather than professional services per se, Oxford Economics says jobs involving 'professional, scientific and technical activities' are thriving. It's here that the report foresees the creation of an extra 129,000 jobs before 2020, although it's not entirely clear why. Oxford Economics also reminds readers that the average wage in London is £698 a week, reinforcing the notion that persons losing their jobs in finance may need to adjust to a new lower paid reality.

Meanwhile, Citigroup has announced a new round of 'repositioning actions' as a result of which it will be cutting 11,000 jobs in total, 1,900 of which will go from from the Institutional Clients Group (the investment bank). 800 of these jobs will go in technology and operations, with the remainder hitting the front office - and maybe even Citi's bloated equities business.